Electrostatic discharge protection systems, most notably lightning protection systems, find use in a number of different environments, such as aircraft, fuel depots, industries which handle toxic and particularly cryogenic materials, power companies, open area recreational facilities (e.g. marinas, golf courses), etc. In the case of lightning, one of the most common forms of protection is the disposition of a conductive electrostatic discharge guide or "lightning rod", the purpose of which is to cause any potentially damaging lightning discharge to be "attracted" to it and thereby directed along a prescribed conductive path that effectively by-passes a facility that would otherwise be subjected to substantial damage that may result from the lightning strike. Unfortunately, because of their composition, location and configuration there are a number of structures, such as radio communication antennas, which inherently possess the lightning attracting characteristics of lightning rods and, consequently, lend themselves as sources of potential harm to their associated communication equipment. For the most part such structures cannot simply be removed, since they perform a necessary function within an overall environment. (For example, in an effort to avoid lightning strikes the user of communication equipment cannot simply dispense with its antenna and expect the equipment to function properly.) Yet, the presence of such lightning rod-type structures remains a potential discharge attraction threat to attendant facilities.
In an effort to reduce the potential harm to facilities that are served by structures that represent a potential lightning attraction threat, there have been proposed a variety of electrostatic discharge warning systems, in response to which a facility user can take protective action in advance of an impending lightning strike condition. In addition to such `storm warning` schemes, facilities have been fitted with improved discharge devices (such as electrostatic discharge devices employed on aircraft) which are essentially intended to operate as highly efficient lightning rods and thereby rapidly direct any potentially dangerous charge condition away from an area to be protected. For an overview of such warning and protection systems, attention may be directed to the following U.S. patents: U.S. Pat. No. 4,543,580 to Bent et al and the patents cited therein; U.S. Pat. No. 3,260,893 to De La Cierva et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4, 652,694 to Goldman et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,540,844 to Sautereau et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,005,357 to Parkinson; U.S. Pat. No. 4,053,875 to Kupersmit; U.S. Pat. No. 3,857,066 to Cline et al; U.S. Pat. No. 3,106,663 to Tanner; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,607,313 to Shaw et al.